A girl I know is a good, kind-hearted, well-meaning young idealist who happens to inhabit the same building as a bunch of other young people, who all happen to be young men, who (although they may well be kind and good hearted themselves) are not quite so considerate concerning a particular habit.

Now fortunately for my young friend she does not have to share a bathroom with the young men. She also has her own room and due to strict rules in this house there's not a lot of visitor traffic or music late at night. No parties in the house either.

All these rules suit my young friend just fine but there is one thing in particular that is really getting on her nerves: the boys are constantly cussing. My friend is particularily bothered when they take the Lord's name in vain. I mean this REALLY bothers her.

Personnally there are many many habits that would really annoy me faster than cussing, being a few years her senior, I learned a long time ago, boys will be boys and there's not much you can do about their language use. My young friend, however has not learned that lesson.

She repeatedly (probably to their great annoyance) has asked that they stop using those words but (surprise, surprise) her efforts come to no avail and every day she's more frustrated with them. But what can a person do, really? My most sage advise comes from a prayer I remember repeating as a child: accept that which cannot be changed. But apparently that's not her style. I suggested she look for another place to live, one that might be a better fit for her sensibilities.

No she likes the location and her rent is paid several months in advance.

Understanding human nature in a way she clearly doesn't and slightly apathetic about her plight I advised her to do one of two things:

1. Either get more creative than simply harping at them;

2. OR back off a little because they may gang up on her and start playing nasty tricks like scrubbing the toilet with her toothbrush. Just ignore them, as my mother used to say.

The following day she had employed the Silent treatment accompanied with door slamming. I'll admit this sounded a little childish to me BUT (and this really was a surprise to me) it got results! Within the day she received a text from one such room-mate: "Please say something," it read.

While it may not seem like much she definitely got their attention which was more than I would have expected.

While boys may well indeed be boys and bound to mischief they are also hardwired to please and protect the women in their lives. And at the risk of generalizing nothing is harder or more confusing for a man to deal with then realizing that a woman is mad at them.

Koodos to my young friend for keeping in mind who or what she was dealing with.